Utilizing Nitrate Salts in Order to Produce Explosives

ABSTRACT

Mass production of industrial explosives with one-tenth of the cost of the current production method—Nitric acid 98% removal of the chemical reaction producing explosive materials—Increasing the production safety—Producing ammonium sulfate, a chemical fertilizer, as a byproduct—Supporting the production of different explosives such as TNT, nitroglycerine and etc.—decreasing the acid concentration in the product.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Currently nitric acid 98%-65% (HNO3) is used to produce industrial explosives. Since nitric acid 98%-65% is highly unstable and also due to the high cost of transportation, producing this acid with the mentioned concentrations cost a lot. Nowadays, with the development of the mining industry and the defense industry, the need to mass production of economical and inexpensive industrial explosives is deeply felt.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This project has decreased the expenses of the production of the industrial explosives such as T.N.T, T.N.G, P.E.T.N, T.N.C and O.N.S, up to one-tenth of the current expenses by removing nitric acid 98%-65% from the chemical reaction of adding NO₂ to organic materials.

If the price, the volume and the method of production of one kilogram of the ammonium nitrate is compared with those of a liter of nitric acid 98%-65%, the value of this project will be industrially figured out. Furthermore, the product of this project, due to the decreased acid concentration, has a better quality compared to the product produced in the method of nitric acid 98%. The other benefit of using ammonium nitrate instead of nitric acid 98% is that the costs of transportation decreases and the maintenance duration and the safety increase.

Besides ammonium sulfate, a chemical fertilizer, is produced as a byproduct of this method and consequently, part of expenses is compensated. It must be mentioned that ammonium sulfate is not produced in common methods of producing explosives. In this project, there is no need to change systems and apparatus by which explosives are produced in nitric acid 98% method.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 displays pouring 50 ml concentrated sulfuric acid (H₂SO₄) in the beaker.

FIG. 2 displays putting the beaker in a bath of ice and water and adding 30 g of solid ammonium nitrate fertilizer (NH₄NO₃) to the sulfuric acid in the beaker and the production of nitro ion (NO₂). Ammonium nitrate dissolution in sulfuric acid increases the temperature and the toxic and dangerous vapor of nitric acid is produced.

FIG. 3 displays that when ammonium nitrate is completely dissolved in sulfuric acid, the temperature of the resulted solution is fixed at 5 centigrade. Afterwards, 15 ml of glycerin is slowly added to the solution by a dropper. While adding glycerin, the temperature increases and if the temperature is not controlled, the orange toxic vapor NO₂ will be produced and raw materials will decompose with an extremely high temperature. Thus, the temperature must be carefully controlled and the increase in the temperature must be avoided. The temperature in this step of the production may be different for other explosives such as TNT, nitrocellulose, and etc.

FIG. 4 displays that three minutes after the glycerin is dissolved in the solution, the soft doughy like nitroglycerin is produced in the solution.

FIG. 5 displays the step in which the pure water with a temperature of 5 centigrade is added to the solution, three times of the solution volume, so that sulfuric acid, ammonium sulfate and unwanted glycerin will be dissolved in water and separated from nitroglycerin. (Nitroglycerin due to having nitro groups is not soluble in water, while glycerin due to having hydroxyl groups is completely soluble in water).

FIG. 6 displays the nitroglycerin under the water on the bottom of the beaker. This water contains also sulfuric acid and ammonium sulfate which must be separated from nitroglycerin through pouring the water in another beaker. After that ammonia solution (NH₃) is added. The following chemical reactions take place and ammonium sulfate which is a fertilizer is produced and this fact reduces the costs.

H₂SO₄+2 NH₃→(NH₄)₂SO₄/NH₄HSO₄+NH3→(NH₄)₂SO₄

FIG. 7 displays the step in which nitroglycerin is washed with pure cold water and 5 g of sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO₃) till the time its PH is neutralized. (This step is very important in order to have product with high quality).

FIG. 8 displays the produced nitroglycerin which is opalescent and with a small amount of water. The water vaporizes in 30 centigrade and the resulted product will be clear and slightly yellow.

FIG. 9 displays the tube number 1 which contains Tri Nitro Glycerin (TNG), the tube number 2 which contains Tri Nitro Cellulose (TNC), the tube number 3 which contains Tri Nitro Toluene (TNT), and the tube number 4 which contains Octa Nitro Sucrose (ONS).

FIG. 10, Number 5 shows nitroglycerin chemical structure and number 6 shows tri-nitrocellulose chemical structure.

FIG. 11, Number 7 shows tri-nitro-toluene chemical structure and number 8 shows octa nitro sucrose chemical structure.

FIG. 12, illustrates a comprehensive overview of the steps of the explosives production process.

A brief description of parts has been introduced below:

9: Ammonium nitrate containing tank;

10: Sulfuric acid containing tank;

11: Container in which acid and ammonium nitrate are mixed and nitro ion (NO₂) is produced;

12: The tank in which organic materials such as toluene, glycerin and etc. are stored.

13: The tank in which chemical reactions occur and explosives are produced. This tank also contains systems of controlling the temperature and the stirrers.

14: The tank in which PH is neutralized and the product is separated from acid, water, and ammonium sulfate.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Production of industrial explosives is one of the major subjects of studies in organic chemistry. In order to manufacture every kind of explosives, nitro (NO₂) group must be added to the organic materials. These organic materials include toluene to produce TNT, glycerin to produce nitroglycerin and etc.

The most important raw material needed for the production of explosives is nitric acid in 98% concentration. However, this project aims at removing nitric acid 98% from the raw materials in order to highly reduce the production costs.

In the project of using nitrate salts, two chemical reactions are combined: the old method of producing nitric acid and the reaction of adding nitro (NO₂) to the organic materials.

In the old method of producing nitric acid, three types of salt are used: ammonium nitrate (NH₄NO₃), potassium nitrate (KNO₃) and sodium nitrate (NaNO₃). Each of these three salts is separately combined with sulfuric acid (H₂SO₄) and nitric acid is produced; the related chemical reactions are showed as following (FIG. 2 relates to the first reaction, namely the combination of ammonium nitrate with sulfuric acid):

NH₄NO₃+H₂SO₄→HNO₃+NH₄HSO₄

KNO₃+H₂SO₄→HNO₃+KHSO₄

NaNO₃+H₂SO₄→HNO₃+NaHSO₄

The other chemical reaction which is used in this project is adding nitro (NO₂) to the organic materials; in other words, the reaction of producing explosives.

In fact, the chemical reaction of producing explosives is the dehydration between nitric acid 98% (HNO₃) and organic compounds (CxHy) such as toluene C₆H₅CH₃, glycerin C₃H₅ (OH)₃ and etc. This reaction happens through using sulfuric acid (H₂SO₄) as a catalyst. In this reaction, nitric acid releases a nitro group (NO₂) and organic materials release hydrogen and this hydrogen reacts with hydroxyl group (OH) released from nitric acid and as a result, one molecule of water (H₂O) is produced.

The related open and closed systems of these reactions are showed as following:

HONO₂+H₂SO4+CxHy→HOH+H₂SO₄+CxHy′NO₂

HNO₃+H₂SO₄+CxHy→H₂O+H₂SO₄+CxHy′NO₂

In this project, two chemical reactions, namely the traditional method to produce nitric acid and the reaction of adding nitro to organic materials, are combined and ammonium nitrate is used instead of nitric acid 98% in the second reaction. Ammonium nitrate (NH₄NO₃) is industrially produced in high volume as a chemical fertilizer. It also can be used to produce explosives due to having oxidation properties. However, since it is highly permeable and less sensitive and also due to some other problems, it cannot be a proper replacement for industrial explosives.

Ammonium nitrate is produced through the reaction between the diluted nitric acid 20%-40% and ammonia (NH₃), which is a reaction between an acid and a base. Low concentrations of nitric acid reduce the production costs.

The reaction to produce ammonium nitrate is as following:

NH₃+HNO₃→NH₄NO₃

If ammonium nitrate is used in the reaction of producing explosives (i.e. adding nitro to organic materials), there will be no need to use nitric acid 98%; because when the solid ammonium nitrate is mixed with sulfuric acid, nitric acid 98% is produced in the reaction medium.

The overall objective of this project was using inexpensive nitric acid 40% in the reaction of producing industrial explosives. However, the chemical reaction of adding nitro to the organic materials is disrupted due to 60% water impurities in acid 40%. If ammonium nitrate is used, expenses will equal to the price of nitric acid 40% but in the reaction medium, nitric acid 98% is available. Therefore, there are no water molecules in raw materials and the dehydration reaction is very well done. Furthermore, ammonium nitrate has a little amount of impurities which does not disrupt the reaction. After the reaction and when the explosives are produced, these impurities are separated from the explosives through adding water to the solution (FIGS. 5-6).

Generally, the open and closed systems reactions of the production of explosives using nitrate salts (i.e. ammonium nitrate) are as following:

NH₃HONO₂+H₂SO₄+CxHy→HOH NH₃H₂SO₄+CxHy′NO₂

NH₄NO₃+H₂SO₄+CxHy→H₂O+NH₄HSO₄+CxHy′NO₂

In the above reactions, sodium nitrate, potassium nitrate or any other nitrate salts can be used instead of ammonium nitrate. However, if these salts are used, the project will not have industrial value, because these salts are not massively produced and due to having potassium, sodium and etc. they are expensive.

This project offers a general method to add the nitro group to a variety of organic materials (CxHy). In the chemical reaction, any organic material which has acid hydrogen can be used and the nitro group can be replaced with it. For instance, in this project, four types of industrial explosives are produced by using ammonium nitrate.

The related reactions are as following. FIG. 9 refers to the produced samples and FIGS. 10-11 refers to the spatial structure of these explosives. The FIGS. 3-4 is related to the first following reaction that produces nitroglycerin (T.N.G) by using ammonium nitrate. The physical form of the nitroglycerin is showed in the FIG. 9, number 1, and its chemical structure in the Figure FIG. 10, number 5.

NH₄NO₃+3 H₂SO₄+C₃H₅ (OH)₃→3 H₂O+3 NH₄HSO₄+C₃H₅(NO₃)₃

The reaction of tri-nitrocellulose (T.N.C) production by using ammonium nitrate Physical form of the T.N.C is showed in the FIG. 9, number 2, and its chemical structure in the FIG. 10, number 6.

3 NH₄NO₃+3 H₂SO₄+{C6H10O₅}n→3 H₂O+3 NH₄HSO₄+{C₆H₇O₂(NO₃)₃}_(n)

The reaction of tri-nitro-toluene (T.N.T) production by using ammonium nitrate Physical form of the T.N.T is showed in the FIG. 9, number 3; and its chemical structure in the FIG. 11, number 7.

3 NH₄NO₃+3 H₂SO₄+C₆H₅CH₃→3 H₂O+3 NH₄HSO₄+C₆H₂CH₃ (NO₂)₃

The reaction of octa-nitro-sucrose (O.N.S) production by using ammonium nitrate Physical form of the O.N.S is showed in the FIG. 9, number 4, and its chemical structure in the FIG. 11, number 8.

8 NH₄NO₃+8 H₂SO₄+C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁→8 H₂O+8 NH₄HSO₄+C₁₂H₁₄O₃ (NO₃)₈

Acid concentration decreases due to the use of ammonium nitrate in the reaction medium. Hence, the resulted product has a higher quality compared to the product of the conventional method of using nitric acid 98%. By comparing the transportation costs, maintenance durations, and the chemical stabilities of these two methods products, the industrial value of the project can be realized. Furthermore, in the method of using ammonium nitrate, there is no need to change systems and apparatus by which explosives are produced in nitric acid 98% method, because after ammonium nitrate is mixed with sulfuric acid, next production steps are the same as the nitric acid method.

In the FIG. 6 it is showed that after the explosive is produced, an ammonium group (NH₄) is made due to the decomposition of ammonium nitrate. This NH₄ reacts with sulfuric acid and ammonium sulfate (NH₄HSO₄) which is a fertilizer, is produced as a byproduct of the reaction. This byproduct is white when it is solid and water-soluble. This fertilizer will be found in water and above nitroglycerin (FIG. 6).

The FIG. 12 simply shows how raw materials are combined to produce explosives. As it is showed, sulfuric acid enters the tank 11 from the tank 10 and then solid ammonium nitrate (the fertilizer) goes into the tank 11 from the tank 9. Once ammonium nitrate is dissolved in sulfuric acid, the resulted solution enters the tank 13. In this container, the solution temperature must decrease depending on the type of explosives intended to be produced.

For example, in order to produce nitroglycerin, the solution temperature must decrease up to 5 centigrade. Afterwards, the organic material (toluene, glycerin, sucrose, cellulose, or etc.) must be moved from the tank 12 to the tank 13 and mixed well by a mixing machine (the temperature must be under control). Finally, pure water is added to the solution, three times of the solution volume. Thus, the explosive that now is in organic phase and is not water-soluble will be separated from other materials and impurities. The last step is to send the produced explosive and sodium bicarbonate, to the tank 14 in order to neutralize the PH. 

1-A method of producing industrial explosive material, comprising steps of combining a first raw organic material of solid nitrate salt with sulfuric acid in a container, a second organic material (CxHy) that has acid hydrogen (H+) is then added to said container creating a first mixture in a controlled temperature where a reaction takes place between said first and second raw materials; sulfuric acid (H₂SO₄) is added as a catalyst to said first and second raw materials, wherein said first mixture is swirled for a specific and desirable time till a little amount of nitroglycerin is produced; then water is added to said first mixture therefore impurities are dissolved in said water therefore only pure nitroglycerin and a little amount of water remains in said container; then sodium bicarbonate is added to said container in order to neutralize a PH of explosive material created in said container. 2-The method of claim 1 wherein said impurities comprises dissolving said sulfuric acid and sulfate ammonium and other impurities in said first mixture. 3-The method of claim 2 wherein said organic material comprising acid hydrogen is preferably toluene (C₆H₅CH₃) or glycerin C₃H₅ (OH)₃. 4-The method of claim 3, wherein said nitrite salt is preferably ammonium nitrate, however, other nitrate salts such as sodium nitrate, potassium nitrate can be used instead. 5-The method of claim 4, wherein ammonium nitrate is used instead of acid nitric 98% and therefore increases safety and reduces production and transportation cost by at least 10 times in comparison to conventional explosive material production utilizing acid nitrite 98%. 6-The method of claim 5, wherein a byproduct of said reaction is sulfate ammonium ((NH₄)₂SO₄) which is a fertilizer. 7-The method of claim 6 wherein said reaction comprises the steps of HONO₂+H₂SO4+CxHy→HOH+H₂SO₄+CxHy′NO₂ HNO₃+H₂SO₄+CxHy→H₂O+H₂SO₄+CxHy′NO₂ 8-The method of claim 6 wherein when said nitrite salt is ammonium nitrate said reaction is NH₃HONO₂+H₂SO₄+CxHy→HOH+NH₃H₂SO₄+CxHy′NO₂ NH₄NO₃+H₂SO₄+CxHy→H₂O+NH₄HSO₄+CxHy′NO₂ 